“Hey, Chatham County, do you really think that the third worthless “improvement project” is the charm?”

“If deregulation is so great, why do I have to pay $1.55 per month on my land line phone bill for Deregulation Administrative Cost because they have less regulations imposed on their corporation? It must be the physical effort exerted when pressing the enter key.”

“Wait a minute. Isn’t Medicare government supported health care for the elderly? That must be socialized medicine. Maybe we need to extend that to people who can’t afford health care. Something has got to change in this country, and I don’t think it’s going to start with the Republicans or the Democrats.”

“I think we need a multimillion dollar government study to determine if cats are ticklish.”

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Medicare is a government program that forced wage earners to pay into, as of today,1.45 percent of wages. Most Senior Citizens on medicare have paid into this government system all of their wage earning years.

We were told, back in 1965, by Lyndon Johnson and the democratic party that this great program would take care of our health care in elder years and not to be concerned. Problem is the government put the taxes received into the general fund where the money has been pilfered away for other uses.

Now here is the problem for Senior Citizens

Fact, Obamacare Robs Medicare of $716 Billion to Fund Itself.

According to the CBO, the payment cuts in Medicare include:

A $260 billion payment cut for hospital services.

A $39 billion payment cut for skilled nursing services.

A $17 billion payment cut for hospice services.

A $66 billion payment cut for home health services.

A $33 billion payment cut for all other services.

A $156 billion cut in payment rates in Medicare Advantage (MA); $156 billion is before considering interactions with other provisions. The House Ways and Means Committee was able to include interactions with other provisions, estimating the cuts to MA to be even higher, coming in at $308 billion.

$56 billion in cuts for disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments.* DSH payments go to hospitals that serve a large number of low-income patients.

$114 billion in other provisions pertaining to Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP* (does not include coverage-related provisions).

The current Affordable Care Act, signed into law by Obama, takes $716 Billion of health care services from senior citizens who are currently in Medicare after they were forced to pay into it since 1966.

The so called Ryan Plan which is not law and has not gone through the Congressional process does not affect those 55 years of age and older.

"But in 2010, there was no “Paul Ryan budget.” That’s where this gets sticky. Remember, Obamacare is supposed to save $700 billion by capping the rise in Medicare spending from GDP growth plus 0.5 percent. The Ryan budgets in 2012 and 2013 don’t alter Medicare for anyone entering it before 2022—a buffer that lets current retirees breathe easy. After 2022, it turns all of Medicare into a premium support plan like Medicare Advantage. At that point, “an annual competitive bidding process” is supposed to push providers to provide lower rates. “The per capita cost of this reformed program for seniors reaching eligibility after 2023,” explains Ryan in his budget guide, “could not exceed nominal GDP growth plus 0.5 percent.” So, if it works, it’s got the exact same Medicare cap as the Obama plan."http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/08/paul_ry...
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"But in 2011 and 2012, Ryan’s spending proposals left one ObamaCare vestige intact: The Medicare cuts.

The cuts were estimated at $500 billion over a decade, and only increased to $700 billion last month after a new analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans in 2010 used those Medicare cuts as an effective political weapon. Seniors voted in droves against Democrats.

Then, the following year, House Republicans voted to keep those very cuts the party pilloried with great success. The cuts weren't explicitly spelled out in the proposal, which wasn't so much legislation as it was a resolution that outlined spending goals. But by not repealing the cuts, the Ryan plan kept them in."http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/08/romney-goes-on-offe...

PS. Obamacare caps go into expanding Medicaid. What in the world does Ryan's plan do with the savings?!?

I have a better one...show me one time that private-public partnerships saves tax payers money. In this instance, Medicare Advantage it turns out does not have a fiscal advantage. Simple as that. It only enriches a middleman at our expense.

“Whether or not they [the Romney campaign] want to say that they have their own plan on Day One, or whatever they’re doing, it doesn’t change the reality of them having to own the Ryan plan. How is that in the wheelhouse of creating jobs?” added a GOP consultant.

Joked another: “The most popular phrase in Washington right now is: ‘I love Paul Ryan, but …’”

“This could be the defining moment of the campaign. If they win the battle to define Medicare, then I believe Romney wins the presidency. If they lose it, then they lose big in the fall,” the same strategist said, acknowledging that Romney had to choose from a flawed list of VP options.

“He just doesn’t seem like he can step into the job on Day One,” said the strategist, who professed himself a Ryan fan.

And that’s just what it does to the Romney-Ryan ticket. Forget how it plays in close House and Senate races.

“Very not helpful down ballot — very,” said one top Republican consultant.

“This is the day the music died,” one Republican operative involved in 2012 races said after the rollout. The operative said that every House candidate now is racing to get ahead of this issue.

Another strategist emailed midway through Romney and Ryan’s first joint event Saturday:“The good news is that this ticket now has a vision. The bad news is that vision is basically just a chart of numbers used to justify policies that are extremely unpopular.”http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79697.html